Motherwell 1-3 Hamilton Academical: 'Well boss Stephen Robinson 'desperate' to sign strikers

Stephen Robinson's Motherwell have gone nine successive matches without victory

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson admits he is "desperate" to sign more strikers in January after a ninth successive game without victory.

The Steelmen were beaten 3-1 by rivals Hamilton Academical on Saturday.

'Well have not won since an injury to 13-goal star striker Louis Moult, who will join Preston North End next month.

"We know what we're missing - we created a lot of chances," Robinson told BBC Scotland after the Lanarkshire derby defeat at Fir Park.

"I don't think there's a team in the country that puts more balls into the box but we don't look like scoring - outside of 'Tans' (Craig Tanner).

"When you're on top as much as we were in the first half you have to take your chances.

"Second-half was really poor, make no mistake about it, we were poor. They took their chances and that's the difference in football."

Craig Tanner put Motherwell ahead after just three minutes, but Accies levelled before half-time when Peter Hartley was ruled to have handled Ali Crawford's shot, and Dougie Imrie scored from 12 yards.

Rakish Bingham gave Hamilton the lead after the break, with Greg Docherty scoring a third.

Injured striker Louis Moult bade farewell to the Fir Park crowd ahead of his January switch to Preston North End

"We lost the game because we didn't take our chances when we were on top and we were really poor in the second half," Robinson, who hopes to sign two strikers during the January window, said.

"We ran out of ideas and looked like a team that's desperate for the break. I'm desperate to get some fresh blood in because ultimately, strikers win you football matches. We need to make sure we get busy in the transfer window.

"If you haven't won in a while it does put doubts in your mind. We've suffered from injuries and we've had to change our style of play slightly, put more perceived ball players into the team, but we know we have to get back to what we were doing and getting back into the shape that we played before and we'll do that over the break."

Hamilton Academical manager Martin Canning was delighted by his team's resilience after falling behind to Tanner's early strike.

The sides meet again at Fir Park on 20 January in the Scottish Cup fourth round.

"We didn't start well and they went ahead but great character from the players and great belief in what we're doing," Canning said.

Hamilton won at Fir Park for the first time since 2014

"I thought we put in a lot to that game and deserved to win it.

"We played Greg Docherty at right wing-back, which is unusual for him as he usually plays in the middle. The reason was that we felt with his power and straight-line running, it's an opportunity for him to score goals and it's great for him to get one. It was a great strike.

"The Scottish Cup tie will be equally as difficult as they will react to it, but so will we."